Heck, 6 months ago, I would have thought I'm crazy! So why am I crazy? Well, because I now use cloth diapers. Yep. We're "CDing" it up. My sister, Rachel, started with full on cloth when her son was born in May. We had talked about it when she was pregnant, and I wasn't really keen on the idea of cloth. More laundry, cleaning poop off, and disposables are so much easier and convenient. Well, after a couple of months, Rachel wasn't have much success with cloth. So she decided to try gDiapers. They were initially made as a cloth/disposable hybrid diaper. You have a reusable cloth cover with a removable, reusable liner inside, then you have a flushable insert that you put in the liner. That's the part that's like the disposable - the part that they pee on. When you change the diaper, you put it in the toilet and flush it! That's it! Well, while those are convenient and easy, they're also quite pricey. So recently, gDiapers came out with a gCloth option. You use the same cover and liner, but instead of the flushable, you put in the cloth. Super easy!
Rachel loved them so much that she convinced me to try them. And I love them! Today, I had my first poopy cloth diaper, and it was so easy to deal with. We also have some flushable liners that we haven't tried - but we're keeping them for when we go out. And we still use a disposable on Hannah at night - she sleeps for 12 hours straight, and the cloth just isn't absorbent enough to last that long.
So what about my earlier concerns? More laundry: ok, yes, but a load of laundry every 3 days is a lot cheaper and easier than buying more diapers. Not as easy or convenient? gDiapers are super easy! And they're practically as convenient as disposables. The only thing is that you have to make sure to carry around a bag for them if you're out and about. No big deal - I'm carrying a diaper bag anyway!
Cleaning poop off? Not a big deal! I'm not the kind of person to get squeamish over stuff like that, though. I'd much rather clean off a cloth diaper with Hannah-poop instead of deal with Lily's "big kid" poop! :) AND! (this is the part that gets me) I had absolutely no idea - along with probably most of you reading this - that you're supposed to shake, wipe, etc the poop from the disposable diaper into the toilet before you put the diaper in the trash can! WHAT?! I've never heard that before! Seriously - it's on the Pampers website (along with all the others, I'm sure) says "As the Pampers bag recommends, you'll want to dump bowel movements in the toilet. Then just roll the diaper into its backsheet, using the tape or fasteners to keep it closed, and dispose of it in the trash." This site also talks about putting it in the toilet and the safety reasons behind it (i.e. contaminating underground water supplies). So if I'm going to be cleaning it off of disposables, I might as well be cleaning it off of cloth!
And, all in all, cloth is cheaper than disposables. With gDiapers, it'll probably cost around $150 for 5 covers, 20 flushable inserts, and 18 cloth inserts. That's until they're about 14 lbs. Then medium and large have different covers, but use the same size cloth insert. For disposables, I figure it'll cost at least $175 for the first 4 months (until the average baby gets to 14 lbs). Ok, so just $25 for convenience - sure, I'd pay that. But what about your next babies - assuming you have more than one. That's another $175 at least for each baby's first 4 months. But with cloth, you don't have to buy anything else. And, the bigger the diaper size, the less you get in the package...which means more $$.
Anyway, obviously, I'm converted. But I know they're not for everyone. I just wanted to share what has worked for me - I didn't think there was another option to disposables. Well, I guess it's more like I didn't realize that cloth could be so convenient - and CUTE! Here's a picture of Hannah wearing her pink ruffle butt gPants:
/soapbox :)
